Gemma Chan, Jimmy O.Yang and Kevin Kwan get real about the importance of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’

Dana Barbuto More Content Now

Wednesday

Aug 8, 2018 at 2:32 PM

The deck of the yacht Boston Elite is a fitting spot to conduct interviews with actors Jimmy O. Yang, Gemma Chan and author Kevin Kwan about “Crazy Rich Asians,” the first film version of Kwan’s trilogy of novels set in the wealthy and wacky world of Singapore’s elite.

We’re anchored in Rowes Wharf behind the Boston Harbor Hotel. It’s the first stop for the trio, as they make the rounds in Boston in late July promoting the film, which opens Aug. 15. Other events included handing out 50 free “Singapour Smoothies” at Mother Juice on Newbury Street and hosting a screening of the movie at the swank new ShowPlace ICON at Seaport. But before that, Chan, Yang and Kwan are excited to talk about their romantic comedy.

I start out suggesting it would be more appropo to be on a yacht in Singapore with Yang’s character, playboy Bernard Tai, throwing the party. To which Yang replied, laughing, “I’m not sure you’d want to be at that party.”

The film is the first Hollywood movie with an Asian director (Californian-born Jon M. Chu, “Now You See Me 2”) and an all-Asian cast since “The Joy Luck Club” in 1993. To say this film is a big deal for the Asian community is an understatement.

Chan, who was born and raised in England and earned a law degree from Oxford, certainly feels it. “Growing up, I never saw romantic comedies — or movies in general — that had people that looked like me or like my mum or my dad or my grandma,” the 35-year-old said. “It feels really, really special. My worry is if the film doesn’t quite achieve what we hoped it would ... then what? Are Asians not going to be allowed to make movies for another 25 years? I just want the film to do well enough to allow other people opportunities to tell their stories. I want more diversity and more stories from all different sources.”

Yang, a comedian and star on “Silicon Valley,” calls the film “magical” and said the cast and crew tried not to let the pressure get to them. “When I first heard about this project I knew it was extremely culturally important,” he said. “When we got there, it was more than just ‘Asian.’ We started making an emotional connection to the whole film and to each other. We’re still such close friends and that doesn’t always happen. There’s something magical about this group.”

The movie’s plot follows Rachel (Constance Wu), an NYU economics professor, as she accompanies her boyfriend, Nick (Henry Golding), to Singapore to attend a wedding and to meet his family, including an overbearing mother played by Michelle Yeough. What Rachel doesn’t know is that her boyfriend is “the Prince Harry of Asia,” and hails from one of the wealthiest families on the island. Rachel’s presence is not well received and a story of reverse culture shock unfolds.

Chan plays Astrid, the only normal cousin in the clan. In fact, Astrid is the nicest character in the movie, helping Rachel to navigate her way through Nick’s crazy family dynamics. It’s a role vastly different from Doctor Minerva, the nefarious geneticist she portrays in next year’s “Captain Marvel.” Coyly, she refuses to reveal any specifics about the Marvel flick, except to say, “She’s not as nice as Astrid.”

And that’s the way Chan likes it. “I never wanted to be restricted to one type of character,” she said. “I try not to repeat as much as I can, depending on what I’m offered. I always try to see things from the character’s point of view, even if the character is somewhat of an antagonist, because they don’t consider themselves the bad guys or villains.”

Last seen as carjacking survivor and unlikely hero Danny Meng in “Patriots Day,” Yang is less noble this time, playing obnoxious party-animal Bernard Tai. “I still hang out with Danny, but I’m so different from him in real life,” he said. “I’m closer to Bernard than I am to Danny Meng. He is somebody I cannot live up to.”

Bernard is the type of guy who hits his friends in the groin at the most inopportune times, like during their wedding ceremony.

“That was completely improvised,” he said. “We were not sure what we were going to do. I tapped Chris (Pang) the first time on the stomach. Then the next time I smacked his (testicles). Jon loved it. So the next take I did it as hard as I could. Chris was hurting that day. We did that scene many times. I was having fun.”

Kwan, the author of the source novel, grew up in the same world as Nick and wrote the books as a “valentine to Singapore.” He released the first installment in 2013 and it became an international best seller. He said he couldn’t bring himself to adapt his own book when it came time to make the movie. Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim wrote the screenplay. Kwan said the movie is better for it. “I felt there were too many hard decisions that I would not be able to make,” he said, “and I wanted to leave it for the experts, someone who’d done this many times before. I didn’t want to be the one to screw it up.”

After viewing the film, Kwan said he was blown away.

“The whole movie in general surprised me, especially how emotionally involved I got into it, even though I knew the story and had read the script,” he said. “I was so swept up in it all that I forgot that I had anything to do with this story whatsoever.”

That might be because the film taps into something universal — love and family. You can take “Asians” out of the title and the story holds up.“That’s what’s so beautiful about it,” Chan said. “There is this specific story set in this specific place about these characters but the themes of love, family, relationships, conflict are universal.”

Early projections track “Crazy Rich Asians” for a five-day, $20 million opening, which is a solid take for a romantic comedy in its first weekend. Could that mean a sequel?

“When I met with Warner Bros. they were very committed to the idea of making all three books,” Kwan said. “The proof will be in the pudding.”

The second book becomes Astrid’s story. “Astrid is an interesting one because she is a character who has all these layers to her,” Chan said. “She is quite mysterious. But underneath that perfect exterior she’s really struggling with what’s going on in her life. I find it interesting to play characters who what you see is not necessarily what you get. That complexity and that depth interest me.”

Chan adds that she’s not big fan of the traditional sequel, “but with this, there is so much more story to tell.”

First, though, Kwan, Chan and Yang are all ready for a vacation before beginning their next projects.

Kwan said he’s writing a still-untitled one-hour drama for STX entertainment; Chan has a one-hour TV satire about women in the pipeline and she can be seen in December’s “Mary Queen of Scots,” opposite Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan. Yang wrote a book he said he wants to adapt and an unscripted show he wants to get off the ground. “For me, I always wanted to get to a point where I could get people to actually listen to my ideas and then hopefully make,” Yang said. “This movie is opening doors for faces that look like mine. But first, me and Gemma are going on a vacation together.”

I ask, “Does she know?”

“This is the first she’s finding out,” he admitted.— Dana Barbuto may be reached at dbarbuto@patriotledger.com or follow her on Twitter @dbarbuto_Ledger.

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